Wednesday, May 23, 2012

But at the 65th annual Cannes Film Festival, a number of young Hollywood stars are attempting to do just that. By striking out on their own, they hope to move their careers beyond mega franchises and toward more mature roles in bolder films.Robert Pattinson ("Twilight"), Kristen Stewart (also "Twilight"), Shia LaBeouf ("Transformers," ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull") and Zac Efron ("High School Musical") all have films in competition at the French Riviera festival.In David Cronenberg's Don DeLillo adaptation "Cosmopolis," which is to premiere at Cannes on Friday, Pattinson stars as a Manhattan billionaire on a crosstown odyssey.

"It's changed the way I see myself," Pattinson said in an interview ahead of his festival arrival.

"I'm kind of getting older," the 26-year-old actor says. "People aren't thinking of me as a kid anymore, so I've got to stop behaving like one."

With the next "Twilight" installment, part two of "Breaking Dawn," due out this November, Pattinson has also lined up parts in David Michod's "The Rover" (a role he says he fought harder for than any in years) and the military thriller "Mission: Black List." Like "Cosmopolis," they're films without the surrounding hoopla of blockbusters.

"When you do a big franchise movie, there's a ton of pressure on you that's really nothing to do with the job at all," says Pattinson. "You have to adapt to an entirely different world, rather than just try to get better at acting and do better within your movies. As soon as you become famous, your movies and your life become one and the same in the eyes of the public in a lot of ways."

Certainly, most actors would eagerly jump at the chance to star in well-paying, hugely promoted movies. But iconic roles begun as teenagers can choke promising acting careers. Stewart, Pattinson's 22-year-old "Twilight" co-star, is also expanding into new territory at Cannes with Walter Salles' anticipated adaptation of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." It was to premiere Wednesday.

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"There's no point in being scared of just trying," says Pattinson. "The worst that can happen is just failure, right?"

The young guns are gunning for the Cannes Film Festival 2012 -- and they are demanding respect.

This year's festival slate features a veritable Who's Who in Young Hollywood. Each has flexed some serious box office muscle in their young careers, now they are hoping to show some acting chops. Each is in competition with their respective films.

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Before he finishes off the Twilight series this year, Pattinson too is still looking for a meaty dramatic role which might come true in Cosmopolis. The film features some racy scenes in the back of Pattinson's banker character's limousine (where most of the movie takes place).

He has sex with Juliette Binoche and even has a prostate exam while trying to seduce another woman -- this is a David Cronenberg film after all.

But not the Rob Pattinson we all know.

"I don't like people thinking that they know me," says Pattinson. "You do all you can to surprise people. And hopefully some people will find that interesting."

His Twilight co-star, and longtime girlfriend, Kristen Stewart will also show a new side in the Walter Salles' film On the Road. Pattinson has seen the movie and calls it "amazing."

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After Cannes 2012, we're going to see many of these stars in a different light.